Life Isn't a Textbook

Forum Keynote Luncheon

Textbooks are a holdover from a knowledge-scarce world, where content was collected into neat reliable packages. In the knowledge-rich world of the future, content is accessed everywhere and the bogus and the relevant live side by side. The point of a Liberal Arts degree is to learn to tell the difference and be able to integrate knowledge into more complex patterns of thought. The ePorfolio needs to be a demonstration that the student can thrive in a messy evolving world of discovery and both discern important content and integrate them creatively and usefully. The major is dead. Long live critical thinking and analysis.